1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a musical tone control apparatus suitable for imitating a performance expression of an acoustic musical instrument such as a bowed instrument.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As a conventional electronic musical instrument which can control musical tone characteristics such as tone colors, tone volumes, and the like in accordance with, e.g., an operation pressure, an instrument which detects a key depression pressure during a key depression operation at a keyboard, and controls a sustaining waveform of a musical tone is known.
In general, in bowed instruments such as a violin, a cello, a viola, and the like, when a string is rubbed with a bow, it is easier to produce a strong tone with a base side of the bow than with a tip side of the bow. For this reason, during an actual performance, a player selectively uses the base side and the tip side of the bow, or initially brings the bow in contact with a string from the base side and then pulls it, or initially brings the bow in contact with a string from the tip side and then pushes it, thus realizing so-called down-bow and up-bow performance expressions. As a result, a player can add a variety of expressions to musical tones.
In contrast to this, in the conventional electronic musical instrument, although musical tone characteristics can be varied by adjusting a depression force for keys, keys cannot be moved, and musical tone control under a condition of movement of an operation member like in a bow operation cannot be performed. In particular, differences in operation positions or differences of operation directions cannot be reflected in musical tones.